1. Could lackluster end of season leave a bad taste in people’s mouth? – Usually around the end of a season, teams at the top of the table start elevating their level of play to try to either win the league or make a run for a Champions League position. But right now it doesn’t seem as if any of the teams really want the Ligue 1 title. Marseille, Lyon, Rennes, Lille and PSG have all played “less than average” games over the past few weeks, and one must really ask if any of them have the drive to win the championship. Instead of the best team pulling ahead of the rest, it is starting to look like “the team that doesn’t play the worse” might win this championship, which could damage the reputation of Ligue 1.

Because of this, we really can’t say who is the favorite to win the championship. We can’t pick out one team (like we did with Marseille last year) and say “ah ha, that is the team that will win it, they have the drive.” Instead, the end of the season might resemble the end of The Blair Witch Project, where people will be scratching their heads while leaving the theater saying “that’s it?”

So please, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, PSG or Rennes, can one of you please pick up your play so we can have at least a little bit of an idea on who really intends to make a serious run at the top spot in the table?Continue reading →

Another week of Ligue 1 action, and another week of questions answered and unanswered. So, what did we learn this week? Lets dive right into to.

Lille has a powerful offense – I don’t know what it is in the air around this time of the year in Lille, but for some reason when winter starts, Lille’s offense kicks it up a notch and goes into high gear. And they proved that yet again with a 6-3 victory over Lorient. Yes, the Lorient keeper Fabien Audard might have been red carded, but he had already allowed four goals before that time.

In addition to Lille showing their stuff, Moussa Sow has shown that he is one of the top players in Ligue 1 right now. Sow recorded a hat-trick, giving him 13 goals on the season. Oh, and if you are wondering if he might be shooting for a Ligue 1 record, he isn’t. Marseille’s Jisop Skoblar scored 44 goals in the 1970-71 season.Continue reading →

First of all, I am sorry that I haven’t written in the last few days. Both work and school set me back, and I had a number of deadlines due today. But anyway, I am back now and ready to write.

So, we had a number of interesting matches last weekend in Ligue 1. From top to bottom, these matches were pretty even, with any team really having a chance to beat any other team. Therefore, it seemed as if we could learn something from this week possibly more than we can in other weeks. But, on a weekly basis, I plan on doing a “what did we learn” section. So, what did we learn in Matchday 15?

1. Marseille are back – after a slow start to the season, Marseille seems to have their stuff together. What they have learned is that they really don’t need Andre-Pierre Gignac to win. What they need is production from Lucho and Mathieu Valbuena along with some stellar play from their defense, which took a blow with Cesar Azpilicueta’s injury, which will keep him off the team for six months.Continue reading →

According to L’Equipe in France, Nice striker Loic Remy will be making his decision on where he will be spending his footballing career.

While we have heard rumors from a number of teams in the last few months, it now looks like a transfer to the British Isles are in the cards for the on-and-off French international striker.

In the last few days, there was talk about him moving to a number of Ligue 1 teams. First in the news was talk about him moving to Bordeaux. In fact, Remy said as late as last week that he would prefer a move to Bordeaux over other teams that were mentioned at the time. In addition to Bordeaux, there was also talk that he might go back Lyon, where he started off as a youth player at the age of 11.

Rennes has also been considered as a possible new home for Remy as well, being a possible replacement for Jimmy Briand or if Asamoah Gyan leaves for another team.Continue reading →

For years, Ligue 1 has been known as a defensive league. With 1-0 scores being common, hat tricks were far from common.

Last year, Andre-Pierre Gignac scored an unheard of 24 goals. Both Karim Benzema and Guillaume Hoarau where seven goals behind. And in the last year, and especially how this year is going, fans and observers alike are starting to ask if Ligue 1 is starting to become the next big scoring powerhouse.

And while the defense is strong in Ligue 1, the offense has improved quite a bit in the last few year. One can easily make the argument that Ligue 1 has become the most complete league in the world, accommodating to both sides of the ball.

So, with that said, here is our choices of strikers for our Ligue 1 All-Star team. While the vote was very close, and there was a tie for second place, there was no doubt about who was considered number one in the eyes of our voters.Continue reading →

I know there are many people out there who are English-speaking that try to play as many online fantasy football games as possible. Heck, I even play fantasy basketball from time to time, having no idea what I am doing. And with many websites, like Yahoo, offering French fantasy football, some fans need guidance on how the pick their starting line up for their team.

I have been involved with fantasy sports since 1988, when I played in a fantasy hockey league on an internet program called Q-Link, which was available for the Commodore 64. I have won my fair share of championships throughout the years. And, hopefully, this site can help you with your starting lineup if you are in a French football fantasy league, but have no idea who to start.

We will be doing this every week, and hopefully you will enjoy it!

And if you have a question about starting players, leave a comment and we can get back to you.

So, on to Matchday 15. Who to play and who not to play is the question. And to start off, I will give you my starters for the week.

But just a note before we start…make sure you do not start any Monaco or Montpellier players as that game has been postponed due to swine flu.Continue reading →

After a hair-rasing game, Lyon get a late equalizer by Lisandro Lopez as the Rhone side advance to their 8th straight trip to the Champions League knockout stage.

Throughout most of the game, Lyon had look quite weak. While the team did start the game off with some energy, after the 15th minute it was all Liverpool. And it looked as if Liverpool were going to take the three points away as a late goal by substitute Ryan Babel gave The Reds a 1-0 lead.